Fishing is an intricate activity that encompasses many thousands of styles of equipment and strategies. The list of common equipment that is necessary to enjoy and succeed at fishing is seemingly endless. This list includes fishing poles, tackle boxes, bait boxes, chairs, hooks, rods, sinkers, bobbers, bait, lures, and the like. The long list of equipment and supplies that the fisherman has to carry sometimes creates a burden that can tend to spoil that enjoyment, calmness, and simplicity that are associated with fishing. While a fishing tackle box provides a great means of organizing such fishing materials and supplies, depending on the user's methods and intent, a cooler must be carried separately. Each of these devices provides different benefits in terms of permanent storage for inanimate accessories for the tackle box versus refreshments and a space to hold the caught fish for preservation. However, just these two (2) devices already occupy the available hands of a single fisherman additional items, such as rods and chairs, quickly become unduly cumbersome when attempting to transport their equipment to a fishing spot. This is doubly true in the cases where the fisherman's point of arrival is distant from their fishing spot or when the fisherman likes to move about on a regular basis, particularly in dark conditions. Accordingly, there is a need for a combination cooler and tackle box by which a fisherman can easily and effectively store and transport all of the necessary angling equipment in a manner that overcomes the problems above. The development of the cooler fulfills this need.
The device is a combination cooler and tackle box specifically configured to compartmentalize storage areas within a cavity portion thereof. The storage areas comprise a cooler compartment, a bait compartment, and a tackle compartment. Each compartment is separate and distinct so as to prevent infiltration of items and fluids from one (1) compartment to the other. At least the cooler compartment is insulated to impede heat transfer into and out from the cavity defined by that compartment. Each compartment is provided with a hinged lid or door that is secured by a latch. At least one (1) top lid is further provided with cushions for comfortable seating. Other features of the device include transport wheels, an extendable pull handle, pull-out tackle box drawers, and a drain. A plurality of rod holders is disposed on an outer surface of the device to removably retain at least one (1) fishing rod. The tackle box drawers further enable reconfiguration of storage sections within the drawers to accommodate items of various sizes.
Prior art in this field consists of coolers that double as a tackle box but such devices fail to isolate the compartments adequately to prevent infiltration of items and fluids from one compartment to the other. A further disadvantage exhibited by the prior art is the requirement to stack the tackle on top of the cooler region so as to force a user to remove tackle before gaining access to the cooler.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a chest that serves as cooler, a bait holder, and a tackle box in one (1) convenient unit.
It is a further objective of the present invention to enable isolation of each holding region without detracting from access to each region and ease of use of the unit.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a pullout drawer assembly to the tackle box section to enable greater accessibility and storage capacity.
It is a further objective of the present invention to afford the ability to reconfigure the pullout drawer assembly to accommodate various sized and shaped tackle.
It is a further objective of the present invention to equip the chest with a wheel assembly and a carry handle to assist with maneuverability of the device.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a means to carry fishing rods along an exterior of the chest.
It is a further objective of the present invention to enable the top of the chest to double as a cushioned seat and a lid for the device.